TIME TO LAUNCH

Wed, NOV 10, 2021 - 12:45

If you’re like me, you get a bit excited when it’s finally time to lift the lid on a project. After all, as Zac Efron once eloquently put it, “The deep, soul-quenching thrill of creation is a uniquely human experience which at once enriches and revitalises our lives.”

OK, Zac Efron never said that. But the point remains; there is something very fulfilling about completing a project. And what’s even better is sharing it with the world.

That’s why I’m so thrilled to announce that right now, The Torril City Mysterion — my first fantasy slash mystery novel — is going to print. Worldwide. It will be available through the regular channels such as Amazon, but will also be available at any local bookstore within two or three days. That's right. You can walk into your local bookstore and order a copy, just like that!

I'm incredibly lucky to have this opportunity, and so grateful to all the people who've helped me along the way. From my wonderful editor, Stacey Dumoski, to my friends and family, and of course my husband, Moritz, who has been there reading drafts from day one. You are all amazing, so thank you.

If you’re curious to snap up a copy, stay tuned, I'll post some links shortly.

The Torril City Mysterion will be available in softcover and eBook format.

A Little Spit 'n Polish

Wed, SEP 29, 2021 - 10:23

In 1963, Ian Fleming gave an interview about the craft of writing. His advice was pretty clear. He followed a set schedule every day, in those hours he wrote 2,000 words, he never looked back at what he’d written, and in six weeks he had finished a book. After a rather brief revision and publishing process, it was then time for the next James Bond story.

Dame Agatha Christie is on record saying something similar, although she places far more emphasis on the planning phase. “The real work is in thinking out the development of your story and worrying about it until it comes right,” she explained in an interview. “That may take quite a while. Then, when you've got all your material together, as it were, all that remains is trying to find time to write the thing. Three months seems quite a reasonable time to complete a book if one can get right down to it.”

If we only focus on the letter points from both these authors, then, writing seems very straightforward. It’s an idea followed by planning and writing, and then the book is done. Yet, strangely, both authors gloss over what I consider the most important element of writing. Namely, that of editing.

Sure, in a quiet space and with no distractions anyone could write away and bang out a chapter a day, and doing so, one could theoretically finish a book in a couple of weeks. The problem there is, of course, that any book written so quickly would undoubtedly be slop — even with good planning.

I have no doubt that both these authors did plan their stories meticulously before diving in to writing, but I still find it odd that they place so little emphasis on editing. The fact is that I also plan very thoroughly before writing. I create a small outline for the story, then an expanded outline. I then plan chapters out individually, noting who is in the scene, their goals, what the chapter goal itself is. I have spreadsheets and notes for every kind of detail, even images and music to help fasten things in mind. But I also tend to read over what I've read every single day, and in this time inevitably find a boatload of things to modify or delete. It’s incredibly time-consuming and I can easily spend a week on one chapter.

I once (in)famously stated in a YouTube video that, “[creative endeavours] are 10% creation, 99% modification,” and faulty as my math was, I still stick by the point. I reckon that editing and rewriting make up the bulk of my writing process, and really wonder how these authors-of-old handled it.

The simple truth could be that I don’t possess the mental acuity they did, and that their drafts were so perfect that editing was barely necessary. Or that they had editors who went to town and polished the book up without author intervention.

Either way, though I hear woeful tales of authors reaching the dreaded ‘editing phase’, I actually love it. Reading over and altering my work is great fun and has so many benefits, from solidifying the plot and minutiae in my mind to helping me consider what I’ve written more thoroughly. It allows me to plant links and connections which I can use in the future, and which I otherwise wouldn't have planted without careful inspection.

Plus, it results in a polished, shiny-ass story. And who doesn’t like one of those?

The Road to Publication - PT. 2

Tues, MAY 04, 2021 - 09:38

READ PART ONE HERE

So, Siltari had been rejected. I'd been rejected. Not as many times as J.K. Rowling, but who was I kidding? I wasn’t going to keep pitching this book for ten years.

Pitching is exhausting. It’s time consuming and kind of degrading. And I want to spend my days writing, damnit. Not begging and scraping. Not wading through a throng of hundreds of thousands and waving until some traditional publisher finally looks down from above and takes pity on me—

-whoa. Just one, cotton-pickin’ second, there. Was that sarcasm? Was I becoming… jaded ? I’d barely even waded into this world of gatekeepers. I’d barely tasted rejection. What right did I have to be so critical of something so tried and true?

Well…perhaps it was that book I read about the publishing industry, which had stressed how useless it was to try and make a living from writing? Perhaps it was hearing from published authors how much they were making, or their stories of disappointment once they’d finally signed that magical contract? Or, perhaps it was that course I’d done from a veteran of the traditional publishing world (with her 30 years of experience), siphoning my joy and excitement away by the lecture?

I looked over the notes I’d jotted down from that one…

…chances of getting picked up less than 0.1%…publisher won’t have any real budget to market my book even if I get signed…cover design would be out of my hands…publisher would only care about my work for one season, then drop it to focus on other projects…likely advance for new author only $2,000-10,000…expect you to bring your audience to them, not the other way around…
Right. So, why exactly was I excited about traditional publishing, again? All these years of work. All this trouble, and all these glittering prospects to look forward to, just for that fabled ‘prestige’? A little feather in my cap? What a load of knobbly-cheddar!

It was just six months after my attempts at pitching ‘Siltari’ when, after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and weighing up the pros and cons, the realisation dawned that traditional publishing wasn’t for me. At least, not at this point in my journey. What was surprising was the fact that, when I finally decided to self-publish, I immediately felt a massive weight lift from my shoulders.

I realised I now had freedom. I’m a resourceful chap. I was a professional graphic and web-designer for 15 years. I’ve got experience in film, narration, and have some great connections. I work hard and am more driven than a Trabbi. I realised that it would be difficult. I realised that I had to keep expectations low. But I also realised: I could do this.

And here we are, another half-year later. It has indeed been a hell of a lot of work. But things are moving. I’m working down my strategy doc. I’ve been building my social media presence. I’ve dabbled in the art of building relations with bookstore-owners, rallied an army of friends and fans. I’ve organised marketing channels and crafted advertising materials. And most excitingly, I have printing and distribution with a great self-publishing house locked-in.

So, in August this year, 2021, The Torril City Mysterion will be my first published book.

Will this all be a disaster? Maybe. Will it ever become a viable source of income? Probably not. But that was never my reason for starting this journey. I genuinely feel I have awesome stories to tell and even if this is the path of most-resistance, then just like my books, I’m going to put my heart into it and come up with the best damned ending I can.

The Road to Publication - PT. 1

Wed, APR 28, 2021 - 13:16

Ah, traditional publication! Cue the heavenly chorus! What greater music is there to an aspiring author?

The steep, craggy road to publishing a book began for me in February of 2020. That’s when, after almost ten years of writing ‘The Binding of Siltari’, I began to seriously pitch it to publishers.

Of course, like a good little author, I didn’t just throw it about. I read and researched for months before sending those carefully crafted query letters. I listed publishers and agents, found out who they’d represented and tried to do a little personality sleuthing to see if they might be a good match. I found good reasons to approach each one of them and tailored my letters, accordingly. And, lucky me, I heard back from a whole five of those thirteen queries.

Seeing that first, unread reply in my inbox was a thrill — until I opened it. There, in line two, were the words, “Unfortunately, the story is not what I’m looking for, right now.”

I remember sitting straight and blinking. Not what she was looking for, right now? Alright, well, when would she be looking for it?

I was never to find out. The email ended with a cut-and-copy line wishing me all the best for the future, (in fact, on second look, the entire email might have been cut-and-copied…) and this response set the general tone for all the others I eventually received.

But my book was good, wasn’t it? Great, Auntie Nelly’s Chocolate Drops , I’d worked so hard on it! It wasn’t something I’d banged out in a month. I’d kept my expo trim! My dialogue was punchy! My character arcs drove the story, damnit! Robert McKee, how had I failed you!?

I mean, I wasn’t going to have to… self-publish , was I?

I shuddered.

No. I had worked too hard and had too much pride for that, damnit! Nobody should be subjected to such indignity. The self-publishing world was a latrine, wasn't it? A fail-party, where the armies of the unschooled and unfit poured their collective drivel. A world riddled with punctuation errors and poor-formatting…of cheap, fiverr-produced covers and prices, $2.99 and under…

No. I would never -…it was traditional publishing or nothing. I mean, J.K. Rowling! Remember how long she tried to get published? I certainly do. In every single supportive text-message I’ve received, over every single coffee-house chat, since then, nobody has let me forget it. And I’ve had to invent new expressions of gratefulness to deal with the inevitable reminders.

READ PART TWO HERE

The Quadrilogy Is Over

Tue, FEB 02, 2021 - 15:07

- CLICKCLICK! -

I pushed my chair back and stood, gazing at my computer screen for a moment without moving. I was done, but finishing a project always brings with it a Bhuja-Mix™ of emotions, and this was a large project.

It was December of 2020 and after almost a year’s work, I had just finished narrating the last in a series of fantasy books for a wonderful client.

My feelings were all over the place. I was thrilled to have completed such an audacious project, in which I had the pleasure (and pain) of voicing over 50 characters and experiencing a fantastical journey — both literary and professionally — but now it was done and the client and I wouldn’t be working together again for a while. Perhaps ever. I wouldn’t meet the characters again, nor would I traverse the world I’d been living in for so long.

That’s a strange feeling.

On such projects, when you’re conversing every other day, dealing with feedback, getting and sometimes giving advice, and basically helping each other to reach this milestone, and when you’re immersed in someone else’s (or occasionally your own) work, it’s not unusual to develop a bond to a client and the material. I certainly do, anyway.

Perhaps that’s something more common in narration; a strange gig by any measure. It’s lonely at times. It’s laborious. It’s technical. And it hurts. Some days I step out of the booth and don't want to open my mouth again until the next day. Sometimes, not even then. Joints and muscles ache, and going into that little void day after day, night after night, only to hear yourself is a test of endurance and a strange game of testing your own limits, in which damaging your own voice often spells ‘Game-Over’.

It’s tough to keep your energy up. It’s tough not to drift and lose the connection to the material. It’s tough when you listen to your work and find it sounds different to what you wanted, then scrap sentences and paragraphs — even entire chapters and character parts. But there’s certainly a reward at the end of it all.

I think we're all storytellers by nature. I love telling stories and always have, even before I tried to amass crowds of students at lunchbreak for fantastical journeys before the next-period bell rang. I love to write, and I love to read, and since I began narrating I’ve discovered a love of reading aloud.

I find a lot of pleasure narrating, and as with anyone who loves their profession, I try to learn more with every project. So when a client gets that final recording and replies with joy in exclamation marks and superlatives, I’m over the moon.

That happened on this particular project, and I was reminded once again that the hard work is worth it. Not only had I developed a great professional relationship with a client, I’ve also been priveliged to turn my skills to something I can be proud of.

If you’re a fan of fantasy, then I really hope you get a chance to hear my take on the Seven Citadels quadrilogy by British author Geraldine Harris. Written in the late 70s and 80s, this series’ rights were recently acquired by a film producer in Los Angeles who contacted me for the narration. It’s a curious, exciting and touching story full of bizarre and interesting characters, which will certainly make an amazing cinematic experience. I hope it made an interesting series of audibooks!

I hope to go into this series a little more in a future post, but until then...

Ciao!